Behold the Nominees

A few days ago, I learned that Bicycle Baroque playing cards were nominated for the 52 Plus Joker Diamond Awards, an annual celebration of recognition and camaraderie. Club members are invited to vote for their favorite deck of the year. In grand style, the winner will be announced at this year’s event in Niagara Falls, New York.

Bicycle Baroque is sharing the spotlight with Echoes in the Palace by Lorenzo Gaggiott, Shahnameh: Ancient Persian Deck by Shabnam Adiban, Circus Corinthia by Marianne Larsen, and Cavaliers by Lee McKenzie. Deciding between them is a cruel exercise since each artist and their creation is notable and deserving of singular acknowledgment and praise. It’s a great honor to be among these titans of playing card design.

As if this decision isn’t difficult enough, 52 Plus Joker adds nominees for Artist of the Year, another distinction the club bestows on contemporary card designers. This list includes myself, Marianne Larsen, Lorenzo Gaggiotti, Lotrek / Oath, and Jody Eklund. My cup is overflowing.

This nomination is incredibly special for a number of reasons. My first foray into designing playing cards was with magician David Blaine. His signature deck, SplitSpades, gave Blaine and me an opportunity to explore card design for the first time. I learned a lot about what magicians look for in cards beyond the design. How do they handle? Do they look legitimate? Is there meaning to the back design or hidden elements that personalize them?

It’s been over twenty years since the first SplitSpades edition was published, and the landscape for custom cards has exploded ever since. New printing companies emerged to satisfy growing demand, introducing even more techniques, special finishes, and packaging options to the great pleasure of designers worldwide. I never could have dreamed that an experimental deck created with naive minds so long ago was just the beginning for a long and joyful ride.

As a budding illustrator from the early 1980s, I’ve enjoyed working on incredible projects such as collectible premiums for McDonald's, Broadway shows, licensed art for DC Comics, book covers for Stephen King, and posters for David Blaine. Working with recording artists like Panic at the Disco, Shinedown, Korn, Yung Gravy, White Reaper, and Anthrax gave me exposure, prompting more assignments that have kept me busy throughout my career.

But the world of playing card design is different. It’s personal passion that fuels ideas, not prompts from art directors, producers, and focus groups. What ends up on a back design, tuck case, or throughout the court cards and aces is a direct reflection of what inspires me and my passion for making things. That is why this nomination means the world to me.

How the nominees are selected is also special. Each deck and its creator is chosen by collectors, many of whom know more about playing cards and their history than the designers they support. Their collections may span centuries and genres, often filling rooms and displacing furnishings, so for a particular deck to catch their eye has profound importance. The Diamond Awards are more than an annual celebration; they're an appreciative culmination of diminutive art that, to this day, has survived plagues, wars, cultural shifts, and technology. And what we honor this year will hopefully inspire more artists, designers, and producers to embrace their creativity and contribute more beauty, cultural record, and ingenuity to the world of playing cards.

Everyone is a winner at the Diamond Awards. It’s not a competition; it’s a movement that urges designers to flex their creative muscle, inspire others, and reveal fantastic worlds, insulated from tyranny. The gathering unites a community bound together by a game, a collection, a magic trick, card manipulation, or simply the love of art and its boundless narratives.

At the 2026 convention, I’m excited to bring a special edition of Bicycle Baroque decks with gold edge gilding. Just 52 signed and numbered decks will be available to club members. I look forward to seeing everyone in October!

I want to thank those who nominated Bicycle Baroque, an homage to a lofty art movement that molded me as a young artist. I also want to thank the United States Playing Card Company for entrusting me with their beloved brand and including me in the Designer Series Collection.